Tuesday, 29 August 2017

Asian stocks plunge after North Korean missile launch

Asian stock indexes dropped sharply on Tuesday as market participants moved their capital to safe-haven assets in the wake of a new North Korean missile launch which flew over Japan.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended down 0.45 percent at 19,362.55, with PM Shinzo Abe calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to strengthen pressure against North Korea.

Abe spoke by phone with President Donald Trump, who reassured the United States “stands with Japan 100%”. In a statement, Abe called this event an “unprecedented, serious and significant threat” which diminishes the peace and safety of the Asian region.

The ballistic missile was fired at 05:30 a.m. (GMT+8:30) from a facility close to Pyongyang, which is highly unusual as most launches were so-far conducted from coastal areas.

The missile flew for about 15 minutes and once it crossed Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, it broke into several pieces to fall into the Pacific Ocean, 2,700 km away from its initial position.

South Korea quickly responded to the threat with four F-15 jets which dropped MK84 bombs in the country’s Gangwon province as part of military exercises. The Kospi index was 0.40 percent lower by the time of this reading at 2,360.91.

Meanwhile China, the Hang Seng Index traded 0.16 percent to the downside at 27,819.77, while the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.11 percent to 3,366.44.

Safe-haven gold rose to nearly a 10-month peak in early trading Monday as fears spread among market players, pushing prices as high as $1,322.50 a troy ounce, adding 0.55 percent.

Surprisingly, the Japanese yen also moved higher against major competitors. Analysts believe this movement is a result of the currency’s safe-haven role for investors.

Overnight, traders received Japan’s household spending for July, which fell short from expectations both in yearly (-0.2% vs forecasted 0.7%) and monthly terms (-1.9% vs forecasted -0.5%). The jobs/applications ratio was aligned with an estimated reading of 1.52.